Perimenopause Prep: 7 Things I Wish I Knew When I Was 35

Nobody told me. Not my mom, not my doctor, a single friend who'd already been through it. I never even heard the word: perimenopause.

While there is alot more conversation about it today, it's happening among women in their 40s who are in the thick of it. But what would happen if we actually prepared for this life cataclysm. Because not to scare you, but it's big.

The good news is there are things you can do to prepare. Here are 7 for starters:

Know Your Body

1.Become an Expert on your Cycle

Your cycle is one of the most powerful health signals your body has. And yet most of us have only a vague idea of what "normal" actually looks like for us, until something changes and we can't quite put our finger on what.

Start tracking everything now: the length of your cycle, how heavy your flow is, any spotting, the texture and colour of discharge, energy levels across the month, mood shifts, bloating, sleep changes, libido. All of it. Use an app or even a simple excel, which I am happy to share with you.

Why does this matter? Because perimenopause announces itself through your cycle first. Cycles get shorter or longer, heavier and lighter. Sometimes they mysteriously disappear for a month. When you've been tracking for a year or two, you know your baseline and can see the shift when it begins. That knowledge is your superpower.

Start now: Message me for my tracker kristyn@menopauser.com and begin logging your periods. Within three months, you'll know your cycle better than you ever have.

Knowledge is Power

2.Learn What Happens in Perimenopause

Hot flushes. Night sweats. Irregular periods. That's the sum total of what most of us know about menopause. And while those are real, they are absolutely the tip of the iceberg.

Perimenopause is driven by fluctuating and eventually declining oestrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. Hormones that don't just regulate your cycle, but touch nearly every system in your body. The symptom list is long, surprising, and frankly a bit wild.

Learn the specific symptoms to look out for here: https://www.menopauser.com/post/the-few-famous-and-many-never-spoken-of-symptoms-of-perimenopause

Recognising the symptoms means you won't spend two years wondering why you're suddenly anxious all the time, why your knees hurt, or why you cried watching a dog food advert.

Medical Advocacy

3.Find a Gynaecologist to be your Partner

This one might be the most important thing on this entire list. You need a doctor who is genuinely knowledgeable about perimenopause and menopause. Not one who dismisses your symptoms, suggests you're "just a bit stressed," or tells you to come back when you haven't had a period for twelve months.

Start this search before you need it. Ask your doctor about how she treats women in perimenopause. Ask specifically about HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy). There has been decades of fear and misinformation around this. But research and menopause societies now say that modern body-identical HRT, for most women, is considered safe, effective, and genuinely life-changing. You deserve a doctor who can have this conversation with you honestly and without judgement.

Strength & Longevity

4.Start Strength Training — Seriously, Right Now

If there is one physical gift you can give your future self, it is this: build muscle now. Oestrogen plays a significant role in maintaining bone density and muscle mass. As it declines in perimenopause, both become harder to preserve. The window to build a strong foundation is now, while your hormones are still cooperating.

Strength training (resistance training, weight-bearing exercise) doesn't mean becoming a bodybuilder. It means picking up weights, doing bodyweight exercises, using resistance bands, or getting into Pilates two to three times a week.

It means building the kind of strength that protects your bones against osteoporosis, keeps your metabolism humming, supports your joints, improves your mood, and quite frankly makes you feel formidable.

Where to begin: Two 30-minute strength sessions per week make a measurable difference.

Nourishment

5.Start Eating for how you feel not how you look

This isn't about dieting. I want to be very clear about that. This is about understanding that as your hormones shift, what you eat matters more than ever.

Start paying attention to what makes you feel good. More protein (crucial for muscle maintenance). More fibre-rich vegetables. Phytoestrogens found in flaxseeds, soy, and legumes. Calcium-rich foods for bone health. Omega-3 fatty acids for inflammation and mood. And crucially, eating in a way that feels pleasurable and sustainable, not punishing.

Your relationship with food should be one of the kindest in your life. Start building it now.

Avoid ultra-processed foods. which drive inflammation, disrupt blood sugar and can amplify perimenopausal symptoms.

Boundaries & Self-Respect

6.Set Boundaries Like Your Health Depends on It

Chronic stress is one of the most damaging forces for hormonal health, and perimenopause makes you significantly less resilient to it.

Here's the thing about many women at 35: we have often spent our entire adult lives being accommodating, reliable, available, helpful. We say yes because we don't know how to say no. We take on more than our share. We feel guilty for resting. We put our own needs at the bottom of a very long list.

Perimenopause has a way of making that unsustainable. Many women describe this phase as the one in which they finally stopped people-pleasing.

Why wait? Start now. No is a complete sentence. Your rest is productive. Your time is valuable. Ask yourself: what do I want to do? Not what is expected or what will please others.

Joy as Medicine

6.Do what brings you joy

This one sounds soft. It is not soft. It is, in fact, the most radical act on this list.

Joy is protective. It regulates your nervous system, reduces cortisol, boosts serotonin and dopamine, and gives you something to anchor to when the perimenopausal rollercoaster feels relentless.

What lights you up? Not what you think you should enjoy. Not what your partner or kids or friends want to do. What is yours? Maybe it's painting, or sea swimming, or growing things, or dancing badly in the kitchen, or reading literary fiction, or learning to throw pottery, or starting the business you've been dreaming about for a decade.

Start now: Write a joy list and then treat doing the things on that list with the same seriousness you bring to everything else. Put it in the diary. Protect that time. Do not cancel it for other people's convenience. Your joy is not frivolous. It is foundational.

If you are in your 30s and would like to begin preparing for perimenopause, let me help. You deserve to thrive, not just survive.

Book a free discovery call and we can explore how changes today can make all the difference for your peri-tomorrow.

Start now. Your 45-year-old self will thank you so deeply.